


The Matter of Memory

by WindyRein



Series: The Birthright of Gore [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Claudia Stilinski Feels, Confrontations, Gen, Mentions of Character Death, POV Sheriff Stilinski, POV Stiles, Post-Season/Series 03 AU, Stiles is a Báthory, Stilinski Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 11:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4744055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindyRein/pseuds/WindyRein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He still didn't want to have this conversation but there was no helping it at this point.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Matter of Memory

**Author's Note:**

> I realized that staring at and re-reading this over and over won't do any good to anyone so here, have a Stilinski family confrontation about murder and not saying anything about the murder.

It took a couple of days but finally the Sheriff was at home at the same time as Stiles. And it wasn't midnight.

He still didn't want to have this conversation. Didn't want to dig open all the old wounds and bring up the barely soothed grief that would come with the mention of Claudia's memory. But he couldn't leave it alone either, not anymore. Clearly Stiles had gotten the idea that he wouldn't want to know anything about the legacy or anything related to it in his head from somewhere and now he'd have to do something about it.

No matter how much he really didn't want to bring up Claudia.

***  
"You should've called me!"

"Why? So you could stop me? Make me forget," his breath hitches, "forget Mama and what she taught me?"

Dad looked like he'd slapped him.

"No. I'd never want you to forget your Mom. Or her legacy, even if I don't exactly agree with it."

"But you never talk about it!" They can both hear the echo of _or her_ at the end.

Great, just great. Shouting's the exact thing missing.

He can see Dad taking a deep breath while arranging his thoughts. Dad opens his mouth, closes it and starts again, "When Claudia died..."

He stops there and pulls his hand over his face. "When Claudia died, we were both dealing with our grief and just stopped talking about her and that wasn't right. Not to you, not to her memory, not to me but it just hurt too much."

Dad stops for a moment to take a deep breath before continuing. "Then it just became habit to not talk about her. I'm sorry for that." When he goes to protest, Dad only raises his hand to stop him, "You were a child. I was the adult in that situation and the responsible one. So, it was up to me how we dealt with it, in the end."

He doesn't realize his choking back tears until a sob breaks through and then he's hugging his Dad, who's hugging back like he's the only thing keeping Dad anchored in that moment.

They just stand there for a long moment and when they pull apart both of them scrub tears out of their eyes pretending they don't notice the other doing the exact same thing. They sit back in their chairs and there's some clearing of throats and avoiding eye contact for a moment.

After another long silence Dad clears his throat. "I couldn't help but notice the heart was missing."

The answer falls from his lips like truth. "I buried it in the wild. It's what we do with our first. Give to the gods and the wild for their favour."

He had practiced this exact conversation with Mama until his answers rang the absolute truth. He hadn't stopped practicing just because she was gone.

It was the one thing Mama had always emphasized. Others _(not kin)_ they wouldn't understand. He knew Mama had never accounted for someone like Peter when saying that, had never accounted for _werewolves_ , for Countess' sake. Mates were the end-all be-all for shifters, and that was without even mentioning Peter's own psychopathic tendencies and the possessive protectiveness they brought with them.

And, well, wolves were pack predators, after all. Not sharing his kill with his possible mate would've just been rude.

**Author's Note:**

> Missed tags are appreciated and reviews are loved. :)
> 
> Come poke at me at [tumblr](http://poutingtrolltroll.tumblr.com/) if you want to.


End file.
